hot potato

American  

noun

1. Informal. a situation or issue that is difficult, unpleasant, or risky to deal with.

2. British Informal. a baked potato.

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hot potato British  

noun

1. slang an awkward or delicate matter

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hot potato Idioms  

1. A problem so controversial and sensitive that it is risky to deal with. For example, Gun control is a political hot potato. This term, dating from the mid-1800s, alludes to the only slightly older expression drop like a hot potato, meaning “to abandon something or someone quickly” (lest one be burned). The idiom alludes to the fact that cooked potatoes retain considerable heat because they contain a lot of water.

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Etymology

Origin of hot potato

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hot potato

“I don’t know if he felt it was a hot potato or what.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

She compared the work to a game of hot potato.

From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2026

Untangling this game of three-dimensional legal hot potato will require extensive, expensive investigations.

From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2023

However, Ms Jones accepted there are opponents to the tax, describing it as a "hot potato" in tourism.

From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2023

She didn’t even look at me before she marched back up to the front of the room and dropped that paper on her desk like it was a hot potato.

From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor

Related Words

• crisis
• emergency
• exposure
• insecurity
• instability
• jeopardy
• menace
• peril
• pitfall
• possibility
• probability
• risk
• threat
• uncertainty
• vulnerability